Archive for December 2012

Seals: Killers of Osama Dying or Being Killed?

December 31, 2012

Seals: Killers of Osama Dying or Being Killed? | Opinion Maker.

– UNBELIEVABLE: ‘More Than 20 Navy SEALS From The Unit That Killed Osama Bin Laden’ Die In Helicopter Crash


– US Navy Commander who killed Bin Laden, commits suicide (The Siasat Daily, Dec 25, 2012):

Hyderabad – SEAL Team 4 Commanding Officer Job W. Price commit suicide. He was best known for finding and then killing Osama bin Laden.

Cmdr. Job W. Price, 42, died Saturday, Dec. 22, of a non-combat-related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.

Suicide of the Officer of this grade raises many questions among the media, as the team was best known for killing Osama Bin Laden that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 1, 2011.

Military officials are looking into the death of Cmdr. Job W. Price as a possible suicide, but that his death remains under investigation.

Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pa., was in charge of coordinating all Team 4 missions.

Price was in Afghanistan supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province. He was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare unit based in Virginia Beach, Va.

SEAL Team 4 is among eight SEAL team deployments. SEAL Team 6 is best known among them for finding and then killing Osama bin Laden.

– US Navy Seal’s ‘apparent suicide’ in Afghanistan under investigation (Guardian, Dec 25, 2012):

US military officials are investigating the apparent suicide of a Navy Seal commander in Afghanistan.

Navy Seal Commander Job W Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died on Saturday from a non-combat-related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan.

A US military official said the death “appears to be the result of suicide”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the death is still being investigated.

“The Naval Special Warfare family is deeply saddened by the loss of our teammate,” said Captain Robert Smith, commander of Naval Special Warfare Group Two, which manages all Virginia-based Navy Seal teams.

“We extend our condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family, friends, and NSW community during this time of grieving.”

Smith added: “As we mourn the loss and honour the memory of our fallen teammate, those he served with will continue to carry out the mission.”.

A US military official confirmed Price was from Virginia Beach, Virginia-based Seal Team 4, which is part of the mission to train Afghan local police to fend off the Taliban in remote parts of Afghanistan.

Price is survived by a wife and a daughter.

Bibi’s strange silence on Iran

December 31, 2012

Bibi’s strange silence on Iran – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

( This leftist “kvetch” about Bibi’s recent silence on Iran fails to recognize the most likely cause of it.  The stupidity is compounded by the subsidiary “kvetch” that the other political parties are also quiet.  How blind is blind?  And  Haaretz published this idiocy. – JW )

There is something unreasonable about such an extreme development – from putting the Iranian issue at the top of the national (and international) agenda for many long months, to its almost total banishment from the public discourse.

By | Dec.31, 2012 | 3:11 AM | 6

Last week Benjamin Netanyahu finally mentioned the threat that Iran poses to the State of Israel. Since his resounding appearance at the United Nations, where he pointed to the Iranian threat by means of a ludicrous drawing, this fateful issue (from his perspective ) has somehow dropped from the public eye. It’s a strange turn of events considering the fact that the Iranian nuclear program topped Netanyahu’s agenda during his entire current term in office, and that the manner in which he handled it cast a pall of palpable existential threat over Israel.

Only last Tuesday’s speech launching the Likud-Beiteinu election campaign again touched on this oh-so-burning issue, though it did so in the slightest way possible: Netanyahu named Iran as one of the many challenges facing the nations which only a strong person such as he (again, from his perspective ) is capable of confronting.

This conduct requires some answers: The same man who tied his decision on early elections to placing the Iranian problem before the Israeli public at the ballot box is now choosing to ignore it almost completely. It’s not at the center of the election campaign; it’s not the GPS guiding voters as they choose which paper ballot to slip into the envelope; it’s not becoming a touchstone for judging Netanyahu’s fitness as leader.

And so we need to understand what’s behind the prime minister’s silence. Has he retracted his conclusion that the fate of Israel depends on how the country’s leadership confronts the Iranian nuclear threat? Has he abandoned his intention to attack Iran’s nuclear installations? Does the fact he has pushed the Iranian issue to the margins during his public appearances indicate a weakened resolve, second thoughts, giving in to American pressure, or the existence of hidden diplomatic channels of communication to which the prime minister is giving his blessing?

There is something unreasonable about so extreme a development – from putting the Iranian issue at the top of the national (and international ) agenda for many long months to its almost total banishment from the public discourse, including the election campaign. A normal society cannot dismiss the fact that its leader sets a national objective, unusual in its audacity and scope, decides on a military method to confront it, enlists tremendous resources to do so (evident in the country’s severe deficit ), spreads an atmosphere of oppressive doom over the nation, overwhelms the world with gloomy predictions, and then suddenly distances himself from the whole thing without providing any sort of explanation for his behavior.

The election campaign is supposedly a good opportunity to look at Netanyahu’s ability to lead the nation. Was he right about the nuclear threat from Tehran and the place of prominence he gave it on his agenda? Did he choose the right way to confront the threat? Is the result reasonable compared to the cost?

But this examination isn’t taking place. Netanyahu is saying nothing and for some reason the other party leaders are also choosing to ignore the issue. They too should be questioned: Are they pleased with the way Netanyahu dealt with the Iranian threat? Do they have alternate methods? Why are they cooperating with Netanyahu’s attempt to push the issue to the sidelines of the public debate?

In Israel of late 2012, the political leadership is nonchalant about the extreme sense of urgency the prime minister of Israel imbued in the entire nation given the existential threat he had identified. In this Israel, Netanyahu waved about a threat of another Holocaust given the malicious intentions of the Iranian ayatollahs.

Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister gave similar weight to the supposed threat discernible in Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal’s boastful speech, and government ministers dutifully parroted the claim that the European nations’ indifference to Hamas’ threats against Israel was equal to their attitude to the fate of the Jews in World War II. Just as pornography is not a matter of geography, the same is true of the existential threat: It’s not what it used to be.

Iran test-fires upgraded missiles in naval drill near Strait of Hormuz

December 31, 2012

Iran test-fires upgraded missiles in naval drill near Strait of Hormuz – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

Islamic Republic tests ‘Raad’ (Thunder) defense system and underwater torpedoes as part of its ongoing naval exercise.

By and Reuters | Dec.31, 2012 | 2:01 PM
Iran navy - AP

Iran’s newly launched Ghadir submarines move in the southern port of Bandar Abbas in Persian Gulf, Iran, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012. Photo by AP

Iran’s navy says it has test-fired a range of weapons during ongoing maneuvers near the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

The Monday report by the official IRNA news agency quotes exercise spokesman Adm. Amir Rastgari as saying the Iranian-made air defense system Raad, or Thunder, was among the weapons tested.

Iran says the system fires missiles with a range of 50 kilometers capable of hitting targets at 22,000 meters. He said torpedoes and underwater and surface-to-surface rockets were also successfully tested.

The highly-publicized “Velayat 91” exercises are taking place across a wide area from the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas shipping route, to the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean.

Naval commanders have made regular appearances on Iranian television since Friday saying the six-day drill would show how Iran could defend its territory.
“Today there are attacks from invading forces on our ports and coasts and engagement of them by marine units and special operations forces (from helicopters),” said commander Amir Rastegari, according to Fars news agency.
Diving teams were also practicing attacks on enemy vessels, Rastegari said.

Cyber-attack simulations and submarine and mine-laying exercises took place on Saturday, he said in a separate report on state news agency IRNA.

Israel has repeatedly threatened to launch strikes against Iran’s nuclear program which many in the West fear is aimed at developing an atomic weapons capability.

‘Iran showing signs it wants deal on nuclear program’

December 31, 2012

‘Iran showing signs it wants dea… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
12/31/2012 11:32
Top US sanctions official David Cohen says Iran has expressed increased interest in reaching a resolution over its nuclear program in recent weeks as oil exports, value of Rial drop; warns that “window” won’t stay open forever.

A bank of centrifuges at nuclear facility in Iran

Photo: REUTERS

There have been signs over the past year and particularly over the past weeks, that Iran has an interest in reaching a resolution over its nuclear program, the US Department of the Treasury top sanctions official said Monday.

“Pressure is working” David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Department of the Treasury, said in an interview with Army Radio.

However, he added that the Iranian regime must be aware that “the window” to reach a solution diplomatically will not remain open forever.

“We have demonstrated to Iran that continued refusal to address issues will only result in increasing pressure,” Cohen asserted. He stressed that 2012 was a very difficult year for the Islamic Republic, noting that oil exports dropped by 50%, along with the value of the Iranian Rial.

Cohen’s comments echo a New York Times’ report on Thursday,  that cited US and Western officials stating that Tehran has slowed its efforts to enrich uranium, in what could be construed as a sign that it wishes to prevent a “direct confrontation” over its nuclear program.

According to the report, Iran began in August to convert some of its uranium enriched to 20 percent into an oxide powder that can be used in its medical research reactor, but which cannot easily be used in a nuclear weapon.

Citing the latest quarterly report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Times reported that had Iran not diverted the enriched uranium to the non-military research reactor project, it would now have enough material for one atomic bomb and be close to possessing enough medium-enriched uranium for a second bomb.

Former IAEA head of inspections Olli Heinonen told the Times that Iran appeared to be trying “to take heat away so that things didn’t go over the tipping point.”

While the Times quoted US officials as expressing caution against drawing firm conclusions from the move, one American official said it appeared Iran was attempting to “put more time on the clock to solve this.”

Former US State Department intelligence analyst Greg Thielmann told the Times that the diversion of medium-enriched fuel to use in the research reactor could be seen as a “a negotiating signal, and a note of moderation.”

The report came as Iran started six days of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz, the official IRNA news agency reported, maneuvers aimed at showcasing its military capabilities in what is a vital oil and gas shipping route.

Naval commander Habibollah Sayyari said the “Velayat 91” drills would last until Wednesday across an area of about 1 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, IRNA said.

Sayyari said the goal of the maneuvers were to show “the armed forces’ military capabilities” in defending Iran’s borders as well as sending a message of peace and friendship to neighboring countries.

Iranian officials have often said Iran could block the strait – through which 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil exports pass – if it came under military attack over its disputed nuclear program.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Russian warship heads to Syria in preparation for a possible evacuation

December 31, 2012

Russian warship heads to Syria in preparation for a possible evacuation | The Times of Israel.

Moscow officials have acknowledged that citizens will be pulled out of the country should Assad’s regime fall

December 30, 2012, 7:20 pm 2
The Russian Federation Navy Udaloy class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov transiting the channel into Pearl Harbor in October 2003 (photo credit: US Navy)

The Russian Federation Navy Udaloy class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov transiting the channel into Pearl Harbor in October 2003 (photo credit: US Navy)

The Kremlin is sending another warship to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base, Russian news agencies reported.

The reports Sunday by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official in the military general staff as saying the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, has set sail from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. She was “accompanied by a combat ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” according to a Russian news source.

The Novocherkassk was the third vessel of its kind dispatched since Friday from Russia to Tartus, AFP reported, and was expected to arrive in the area in early January.

The reports gave no information on the ship’s intent. But Russian diplomats have said that Moscow is preparing a plan to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The Defense Ministry announced two weeks ago that several ships were being dispatched to the Mediterranean.

Syrian opposition leaders reported in September that Russia was completing the withdrawal of its citizens and military personnel from its naval base in Syria.

Moscow has operated the naval facility at Tartus since signing an agreement with Damascus in 1971. Although it is merely a ship repair and refueling station with a limited military presence, it is the sole remaining Russian military base outside of the former Soviet Union.

Failed Syria envoy Brahimi’s mission brings chemical war closer

December 31, 2012

Failed Syria envoy Brahimi’s mission brings chemical war closer.

DEBKAfile Special Report December 30, 2012, 9:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

 

Victim of Syrian army poison gas attack in Homs

The Syrian crisis unbelievably took another turn for the worse Saturday, Dec. 29: After making no headway with Bashar Assad in Damascus, the UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was told in no uncertain terms by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow: “There is no possibility of persuading Syrian ruler Bashar Assad to leave Syria.” As they spoke, a record 400 people died in hostilities in the country. The burnt remains of hundreds of people slaughtered by the army were discovered in a Homs district. And Syrian opposition leaders have repeatedly preconditioned their acceptance of the Russian invitation to talks on Assad’s prior exit.
This stalemate is compounded by escalation in the use of two extreme weapons of war. Since Dec. 12, the Syrian army has been firing home-made Scud missiles at rebel centers. The US and NATO have responded by stationing six Patriot batteries manned by 1,000 American, German and Dutch servicemen, on the Turkish-Syrian border to protect Turkey from Syrian attack. The inference here is that so long as the Scuds are confined to targets inside Syria, Western intervention will stop at the border.
Then on Dec. 26, The Syrian army, under the command of Iranian officers, began shooting Fateh A-110 high-precision, short-range surface missiles made in Iran. They were sent to Syria at top speed by an Iranian airlift flying over Iraq. Syria in fact manufactures a local version of the Fateh A-110, called M600.  But Tehran decided to deliver the originals to show the world that Assad is not fighting alone and that Iran’s military support for his regime is solid – not just against the uprising, but also against NATO, its missiles and the units which have taken  up position in Turkey.

In effect, both sides to the conflict appear to have resorted to a form of chemical warfare. Western and Middle East military sources report that, last week, Syrian forces loyal to Assad are thought to have used in the Homs battle of Dec. 23 grenades containing a gas that paralyzes lungs and causes extreme infirmity, or even death.

Those sources were careful to point out that the gas was most likely “a concentrated irritant,” but not one of the deadly chemical weapons stockpiled by the Assad regime. They were equally careful to avoid indentifying its origin. debkafile’s intelligence sources disclose that these gas grenades were especially developed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for use against the masses which demonstrated against the 2009 presidential elections. The grenades have now been distributed to pro-Assad Shabiha militias, the Syrian equivalent of Iran’s brutal al Qods Brigades.
The gas grenades were brought out on Dec. 22, the day after the Syrian Presidential Guard reported that seven of its number had died in battle near Damascus as a result of a weapon used by the rebels which “produced a yellow toxic gas.”
This allegation may have been trumped up to justify the pro-Assad forces’ use of toxic gas grenades in Homs. Be that as may, both sides appear to be preparing the ground for chemical warfare. Yet no Western, or any other external power, including Russia, appears ready to intervene to put a stop to the latest horror raising its head in the Syrian conflict, the escalation to chemical warfare – any more than they prevented its descent to the bombardment of civilians by missiles.

In Amman, the Jordanian information minister Sameeh Maaytah, said Sunday, Dec. 30, that his government is prepared for any chemical threat on the kingdom but will not enter into “any alliance” to protect itself.
Several media attributed the minister’s comment to the visit Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu paid to Amman last week for talks with King Abdullah, purportedly about the Syrian chemical weapons threat they share.

debkafile’s military sources point out that only the first half of the Jordanian statement is correct. The other half is as unreal as most of the comments on the chemical weapons peril heard from Western powers, Russia, Israel or Arab spokesmen. It is a fact that Jordan has after all entered into close alliance with NATO, not to mention the US, for protecting the kingdom. This alliance goes forward on six tracks:

1. Learning how to treat victims of a potential Syrian chemical attack;

2.  Setting up an American-Jordanian headquarters in Amman for coordinated operations against this threat, similar to the joint outfits the US has established in Israel and Turkey. The Americans have imported to Jordan a military field hospital specializing in the treatment of chemical warfare victims;

3.  Since last summer, US Army Green Berets, which specialize in chemical warfare, have been training Jordanian troops;

4. Czech and Polish military units, expert in chemical and biological warfare, are also in the Hashemite kingdom.  They are not only teaching Jordanian units how to combat chemical warfare, but also Syrian rebels;
5. US and Jordanian special units are standing ready for orders to enter Syria and attack the sites of the chemical weapons positioned for shooting into Jordan and Israel;

6. The Jordanian army units deployed between the areas around Amman and close to the northern Jordanian border with Syria were issued last week with anti-contamination masks and suits.

All in all, the United States and NATO have prepared Jordan exhaustively for a possible Syrian chemical weapons attack. If this happens, some intelligence sources estimate Israel or Turkey may be targeted next.  Given the Syrian conflict’s sequential plunge into unspeakable atrocities, Israel cannot count on being exempt from a poison weapons attack – even before its Jan. 22 general election.

Official: Navy SEAL commander dies of apparent suicide while deployed in Afghanistan – Washington Post

December 31, 2012

Official: Navy SEAL commander dies of apparent suicide while deployed in Afghanistan – Washington Post.

( I don’t know what happened, but I find it very hard to believe this SEAL actually committed suicide.  This stinks of disinfo… –  JW )

( Please let us know anything you find out about the apparently “eliminated” Cmdr Job Price.  All I’ve found are crazy conspiracy theories.  Although I’ve got to say that this time they sound a bit less crazy to me. – JW )

By Associated Press,December 24, 2012
  • This undated photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows Navy SEAL Cdr. Job W. Price. U.S. military officials are investigating the apparent suicide of Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pa., who died Saturday of a non-combat-related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows Navy SEAL Cdr. Job W. Price.… (U.S. Navy/Associated Press )

WASHINGTON — U.S. military officials are investigating the apparent suicide of a Navy SEAL commander in Afghanistan.

Cmdr. Job W. Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pa., died Saturday of a gunshot wound to the head while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said Monday on condition of anonymity because the death is still under investigation.

The official said Price failed to show up for an appointment and was found when others went to check on him.

Price was from Virginia Beach, Va.-based SEAL Team 4, which is part of the mission to train Afghan local police to stave off the Taliban in remote parts of Afghanistan.

It was not immediately known when Price started his tour of duty in Afghanistan, though he had been in command of the team of 25 to 30 men since June 2011, the official said. He said Price had no immediately known professional or work problems other than the stresses of deployment, which can be tremendous for troops.

“The Naval Special Warfare family is deeply saddened by the loss of our teammate,” said Capt. Robert Smith, Commander of Naval Special Warfare Group Two, which manages all Virginia-based Navy SEAL teams. “We extend our condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family, friends, and NSW community during this time of grieving.”

“As we mourn the loss and honor the memory of our fallen teammate, those he served with will continue to carry out the mission,” Smith added Sunday.

Price is survived by a wife and a daughter.

His body is to be returned to the United States early Tuesday.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wiesenthal ranks top 10 anti-Semites, Israel-haters

December 30, 2012

Wiesenthal ranks top 10… JPost – Jewish World – Jewish Features.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
12/28/2012 04:33
( Should read “bottom ten” rather than “top.”  Disgusting swine who remind us that the world is still a very scary place.  If you happen to be a Jew, that is.   May their names be obliterated ! ימח שמם – JW )
Muslim Brotherhood’s rise in Egypt catapults two religious figures into No. 1 spot on Simon Wiesenthal Center’s year-end list.

Defaced placard of Jobbik Party leader Gyongyosi

Photo: REUTERS

NEW YORK – International human rights organization The Simon Wiesenthal Center announced on Thursday its list of the top 10 anti-Semites and haters of Israel.

Those dominating the annual list were mostly from Europe and the Middle East. The list reflected right-wing, left-wing and Islamist loathing of Jews and Israel.

The rise of a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt catapulted two religious figures into the No. 1 spot: Muhammad Badie and Futouh Abd al- Nabi Mansour.

In the Brotherhood’s moral guide, Badie states that “the Jews have dominated the land, spread corruption on earth, spilled the blood of believers and in their actions profaned holy places.

Zionists only understand the language of force and will not relent without duress. This will happen only through holy Jihad.”

Mansour, an Egyptian cleric who heads the religious endowment for the Matrouh governate, said in October, according to a transcription from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters – Oh Allah, disperse them and rend them asunder, Oh Allah, demonstrate your might and greatness upon them.”

At a nationally televised service at el- Tenaim Mosque, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was shown fervently answering, “Amin” (Amen) to Mansour’s prayers.

The Wiesenthal Center, which is named after Austrian Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, is considered a leading authority on anti-Semitism.

The group placed Iran’s regime in its second spot. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was cited for his July remarks that “it has now been some 400 years that a horrendous Zionist clan has been ruling the major world affairs.

And behind the scenes of the major power circles, in political, media, monetary and banking organizations in the world, they have been the decision-makers, to an extent that [in] a big power with a huge economy and over 300 million population, the presidential election hopefuls must go kiss the feet of the Zionists to ensure their victory in the elections.”

The list also included Maj.-Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, head of Iran’s armed forces, who said in August, “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause, [which] is the full annihilation of Israel.”

Iran’s First Vice President Mohamed Rahimi made the list as well, for saying that the Talmud “teaches [the Jews] how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother.”

As “evidence” of Jewish control of international illegal drug trade, the first vice president alleged that there wasn’t “a single addict among the Zionists.”

The German Spiegel magazine online columnist Jakob Augstein, who owns the left-wing weekly Freitag, joined the list of anti-Semites at spot No. 9. The Wiesenthal Center listed him under the caption “Influential German media personality’s bigotry,” and cited a series of quotes, including, “With backing from the US, where the president must secure the support of Jewish lobby groups, and in Germany, where coping with history, in the meantime, has a military component, the Netanyahu government keeps the world on a leash with an ever-swelling war chant.”

Another quote from Augstein declared that “Israel’s nuclear power is a danger to the already fragile peace of the world. This statement has triggered an outcry. Because it’s true. And because it was made by a German, Günter Grass, author and Nobel Prize winner. That is the key point. One must, therefore, thank him for taking it upon himself to speak for us all.”

The columnist also trashed ultra- Orthodox Jews in Israel, writing, “But the Jews also have their fundamentalists, the ultra-Orthodox haredim. They are not a small splinter group. They make up 10% of the Israeli population. They are cut from the same cloth as their Islamic fundamentalist opponents. They follow the law of revenge.”

In September, author and journalist Henryk Broder, one of Germany’s main experts on modern anti-Semitism, termed Augstein “a pure anti-Semite…who only missed the opportunity to make his career with the Gestapo because he was born after the war. He certainly would have had what it takes.”

The founder of the pro-fascist Greek party Golden Dawn made the list at No.
6. Nikolaos Michaloliakos gave a Nazi salute in the Athens City Council, and this past May, he told an interviewer that six million did not die in the Holocaust.

Calling the figure an exaggeration, he said that “there were no ovens. This is a lie… there were no gas chambers, either.”

Hungary’s radical right-wing Jobbik Party earned the No. 7 spot, as Jobbik politician Marton Gyongyosi criticized his country’s foreign ministry for supporting Israel and raised the specter of dual loyalty by calling for background checks on Hungarian Jewish citizens.

“I think now is the time to assess how many people there are of Jewish origin here, and especially in the Hungarian parliament who represent a certain national security risk of Hungary,” he said.

The Wiesenthal Center also cited Oleg Tyagnibok (No. 5) from the fascist Ukranian Svoboda party. He urged purges of the approximately 400,000 Jews and other minorities living in the Ukraine and has demanded that the country be liberated from the “Muscovite Jewish Mafia.”

Ukrainian MP Igor Miroshnichenko was cited for anti-Jewish remarks as well: He called Ukrainian-born American actress Mila Kunis a “zhydovka” (dirty Jewess).

The center designated European soccer (No. 4) as a forum for the outbreak of Jew-hatred, writing, “The most serious situation has been a resurgence of anti- Semitic chanting toward one particular team, Tottenham Hotspur, which is based in a traditionally Jewish section of London. In a recent match against rival West Ham United, sections of its fans chanted, ‘Adolf Hitler’s coming for you’ and ‘You’re getting gassed in the morning’ and [made] hissing noises like the sound of a gas chamber.”

Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff was listed as No. 3 for “slandering Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu for doing what every world leader would do against the onslaught of rocket attacks targeting innocent civilians” from the Gaza Strip.

Norway’s Trond Ali Linstad earned the No. 8 spot. His website warns readers to “beware the Jews” and the “influence they have in newspaper, in other media, and in many political organs.”

Linstad depicts violence against Israel as a “great success” and supports use of the slogan “Kharibat Khybarj,” a jihadist term for terrorism against Jews. He also claims that “every president in the US must adapt to the Jewish lobby,” which he says undermines US policy.

This year, King Harald V nominated Linstad for the Royal Service Medal, which awards work in the public sector, arts and sciences.

The only American to make the list, at spot No. 10, was Louis Farrakhan, the head of the African-American Nation of Islam. He said in October that “Jews control the media. They said it themselves….In Washington right next to the Holocaust museum is the Federal Reserve where they print the money. Is that an accident?” Farrakhan added, “Did you know the Koran says that Jews are the most violent of people? I didn’t write it, but I’m living to see it.”

Iran says Patriot batteries in Turkey meant to protect Israel

December 30, 2012

Iran says Patriot batteries in Turkey meant to protect Israel | The Times of Israel.

Tehran claims NATO-backed anti-missile system not being used to shield Turkey from Syrian civil war

December 30, 2012, 8:31 am Updated: December 30, 2012, 8:19 am 0
An illustrative photo of a Patriot missile system (photo credit: CC-BY-SA Darkone/Wikimedia Commons)

An illustrative photo of a Patriot missile system (photo credit: CC-BY-SA Darkone/Wikimedia Commons)

NATO-backed Patriot missile batteries stationed on Turkey’s border with Syria are actually meant to protect Israel from Iran, Tehran’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The six long-range missile-defense batteries, which Ankara requested after Turkey was shelled on several occasions from inside Syria, are meant to keep Syria’s civil war from spilling across the border into Turkey, NATO officials say.

But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the real reason behind them was to give the West a way to shield Israel from retaliatory Iranian missiles.

“Iranian military officials believe that the reason for deploying NATO’s Patriot missiles in Turkey is to prevent Iran from responding to the Zionist regime [of Israel] if it attacked Iran,” spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in Ankara Saturday, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.

Israel does fear retaliation with mid- or long-range missiles should Jerusalem or the US choose to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, but NATO and Ankara have given no indication the batteries are in place to do anything but protect Turkey. Iranian missiles would not have to cross Turkish airspace in order to hit Israel.

Earlier this month, Turkey announced the locations for the three batteries, which are expected to be operational by late January.

“We made our application to NATO and they gave us six batteries and they will be deployed in Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras and Adana,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a Turkish TV station.

Iran, which is Syria’s strongest backer but also maintains ties with Turkey, has decried the deployment of the batteries, which can also be used to shoot down aircraft, as a “declaration of war.”

In October, a Patriot missile battery was deployed near the Israeli port of Haifa, days after a unmanned aerial vehicle from Lebanon managed to traverse nearly the whole country. The Israel Defense Forces said the two events were unconnected.

Patriot missiles were used to protect Israel and Saudi Arabia from Iraqi Scud missile attacks during the 1991 Gulf War, with middling success.

Fateh missiles and Russian-Iranian military cooperation to bolster Assad

December 29, 2012

Fateh missiles and Russian-Iranian military cooperation to bolster Assad.

( This story may be true on some levels, but it “stinks” to me of manipulation. – JW )

DEBKAfile Special Report December 29, 2012, 11:23 AM (GMT+02:00)

The Iranian Fateh A-110 surface missile

French and Israeli intelligence sources affirmed Saturday, Dec. 29,  that, contrary to reports appearing in the United States Friday, Iran has accelerated rather than slowed down its 20-percent grade enrichment of uranium and is racing toward a nuclear weapons capacity.

Furthermore, for the moment, there is not the slightest indication that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has any intention of accepting the Obama administration’s latest plan for a nuclear deal.

As debkafile has revealed, this plan would require Iran to discontinue production of 20-percent enriched uranium (which can be quickly converted to weapons grade material), and confine itself to producing low 5 percent uranium in agreed amounts. Tehran would also have to accept the removal from the country of its entire stock of 20-percent refined uranium.
The same sources point to the first appearance this week of Iran-made Fateh A-110 high-precision, short-range missiles in the use of the Syrian army against rebel fighters, under the guidance of Iranian officers and instructors, as underscoring the inter-dependence Tehran draws between the Syrian and nuclear issues.

Khamenei now links an acceptable solution for the Syrian dilemma to his possible nuclear flexibility.

debkafile: When Iranians talks about an inter-power solution for ending the Syrian war, they mean a deal between Washington, Moscow and Tehran on both issues.
The Fateh missiles are being fired quite openly by Iranian military personnel in command of Syrian missile units as Tehran’s answer for the deployment of US, German and Dutch NATO Patriots on the Turkish side of the Syrian border.  They also carry a message in response to Israel’s threat of offensive action against Syria if it becomes necessary to thwart its use of chemical weapons. According to our French and military sources, Tehran is using the Fateh missiles and the Iranian military presence in Syria to warn that there is no bar to their use against Turkey, Jordan and Israel as well, in the event of a US or Israel attack on Syria’s chemical stores.
On no account, will Iran permit the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus.  At most, Tehran conceives of his departure in stages and handover to an emergency government led by the military or an armed forces faction to which certain opposition elements may be co-opted. Elections, in the Iranian view, must be deferred until hostilities end and the security situation is stable.

American and French sources agree that Tehran and Moscow have attained full coordination in their strategies for Syria and also on Iran’s nuclear program. They note that it was not by chance that the Russian Navy Wednesday, Dec. 26, launched its largest sea maneuver ever in the Mediterranean and the approaches to the Persian Gulf, just two days before Iranian warships, submarines and aircraft embarked on their week-long Velayat 91 sea exercise in the Straits of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and northern parts of the Indian Ocean.

The command centers of the Russian and Iranian war games are under orders from Moscow and Tehran to jointly exhibit  naval muscle in order to bolster the Assad regime against collapse.

Parallel to the influx of Fateh missiles from Iran to Syria, Moscow is rapidly expanding the deployment of its highly-sophisticated S-400 air and missile interceptors in Russia’s southern military region near the Turkish border.